Reptiles

Reptile and amphibian medicine

Paws and Claws Medical Center is a reptile veterinary hospital in Miami for lizards, snakes, turtles, and tortoises — including bearded dragons, leopard geckos, ball pythons, and chelonians. Ramon de Armas, DVM, PGCert(EAS), GPCert(EAP), practices at an ARAV member hospital. Bring enclosure photos and temperatures to the first visit. We are not a 24/7 ER. Call (786) 361-9344 during open hours.

Who we see

Lizards, snakes, turtles, and tortoises are a working part of this hospital, not an afterthought squeezed in after the dogs. Bearded dragons, leopard geckos, crested geckos, uromastyx, skinks, ball pythons, corn snakes, and chelonians are on the caseload. Amphibians and highly specialized venomous species are a phone call first — we will tell you if we are the right place. Paws & Claws Medical Center is an ARAV member hospital. Dr. Ramon de Armas, DVM, PGCert(EAS), GPCert(EAP), built this practice so reptile medicine did not have to be a referral you cannot get for three weeks.

The first visit

Bring photographs of the entire enclosure: basking spot, cool end, hides, water, substrate, and the UVB fixture with the date the bulb was last changed if you have it. Write down daytime and nighttime temperatures from a thermometer you actually use, not from the sticker on the cage. Bring the diet, including supplements and the brand of calcium. A reptile exam without husbandry data is theater. We will do the exam anyway, but we will also ask for the photos, because metabolic bone disease, dysecdysis, and chronic respiratory disease are often husbandry diseases with a medical presentation.

Do not assume “they ate last month so they are fine.” Snakes can coast. Dragons and geckos look still when they are sick. If there is discharge from the mouth or nose, swelling of the limbs or jaw, a shell problem, or a shed that has been stuck through multiple cycles, call (786) 361-9344 during open hours.

Common problems

Metabolic bone disease. Stomatitis. Respiratory disease in snakes and chelonians. Parasites that someone treated with a pet-store bottle. Dysecdysis from humidity and hide failures. Shell rot and pyramiding. Follicular stasis in female dragons. These are the files. We use imaging — including CT when the question is inside a coelom or a shell we cannot auscult through — and we use anesthesia protocols written for reptiles, not a dog machine with the vaporizer turned down.

We will not start every visit with a lecture. We will start with the animal in front of us. If husbandry is the disease, we will say that in plain language and give you the two or three changes that matter this month. If there is an infection, a fracture, a reproductive emergency, or a surgical problem, we will treat it as medicine, not as a lighting seminar.

Husbandry we will not ignore

We will not ignore a UVB bulb that is years old, a heat rock, a diet of iceberg lettuce for a tortoise, calcium without a plan, or a turtle in a plastic box with no basking dock. Florida heat does not replace a photoperiod and a UVB fixture. “It is a desert species so I keep it dry” is how geckos and uromastyx end up dehydrated and stuck in shed. You will hear the correction. You will also hear what is good enough for this week so the animal is not left in a perfect enclosure that does not exist yet.

Boarding for existing patients is by appointment. In-hours urgent care: call. After hours we are not a 24/7 ER — go to a local emergency hospital that will see reptiles.

Hablamos español. Call (786) 361-9344.

Questions owners actually ask

Do you treat bearded dragons and turtles in Miami?

Yes. Lizards, snakes, turtles, and tortoises are a working part of this hospital.

What should I photograph before the appointment?

The whole enclosure: basking spot, cool end, hides, water, substrate, and the UVB fixture. Write down real temperatures.

Are venomous reptiles accepted?

Call first. We will tell you if we are the right place.

Does Florida heat replace a UVB bulb?

No.